Over The Void Reviews

Giving this a positive vote because there is no neutral option and I don't think it deserves a negative, despite its flaws. Gameplay-wise, the premise is fairly straightforward. Each zone has a number of red buttons and a locked exit door. Navigate yourself close enough to the red buttons to activate them (causing them to change color). Once the buttons have all been pressed, the door is unlocked and you can move to the next zone. Movement is fairly typical: 4 directions + jump (though for some reason the default keys are QZSD?? I had to exit the game to change them). Most of the zones have no floor and if you fall through the bottom you will respawn at the beginning of the stage. You have the ability to place temporary platforms in front of you (or whichever direction the camera is pointing). The standard platforms are green, but you can also place blue platforms which act as a trampoline. Cool idea, but the most efficient way to move around is to point your camera down and keep dropping trampolines directly under your feet until you get where you need to go. Based on the trailer and the game description, I was expecting something different. Parts of the trailer appear as though the player is flying freely, and the frequent mention of "wandering" suggested that there would be more open exploration. The reality is that each zone is a boxed-in area. If there are no visible walls, moving too far from the play area will count as a fall and you'll respawn. Each area is effectively a solid sculpture. You can climb on the solid forms you find throughout each zone, but they'll also get in your way as you try to bound around on your platforms. I experienced some problems during my playthrough, and I don't know if they're common. Occasionally I would hear the chirp of success when I reached a button, but when I turned to look directly at the button, I saw that it was still red. Pressing it again changed the color but didn't activate the sound. Additionally, in several levels, I found myself flung downward at great speed and barely caught myself from hitting the bottom. I'm not sure if this was the result of my bumping an object that I couldn't see or if there was a downward current in place with no visual cues (unlikely, since after catching myself I could generally ascend without difficulty). Either way, it was very frustrating. Ultimately, I think this game is trying to do 2 directly opposing things. It's very closed and linear but bills itself as a wandering experience. It features narrow platforming and falling death as a primary obstacle but wants to be "relaxing" exploration. I think it would be a good idea for the dev to explore these ideas separately. Make one game with fall danger, linear progression, and precision platforming. Make another game with massive expansive areas (not necessarily unobstructed), free exploration and high mobility. Thinking about stuff like Grow Home (especially in the late game), Antichamber, and Proteus for inspiration here.

Over The Void is interesting, but broken to an almost unplayable degree. First off, this game is not a puzzle platformer. It is a walking simulator. Which is fine. I love walking simulators. But if you're looking for anything more than "get from point A to point B with nothing hindering you by the broken physics", then this is not what you should be playing. The environments are cool. The method of traversal would be great if it wasn't so broken. Everything about the game is an utter disappointment. All of the levels are fairly open and the goal is to travel around collecting widgets and pressing buttons. You can place a platform you stand on with LMB and place a platform that boosts you up with RMB. Unfortunately, the platform physics sometimes fail and you'll either fall through a platform or get stuck in one of them (you can clear platforms and do it again, but it's annoying). The biggest problem is that the platforms place in front of your view, not under your character. This means that there are all of these gorgeous, expansive environments that you have to travel while staring at your feet. You're also frequently trying to hit buttons you can't see because you have to be looking down to place platforms. The placement issue really wrecks the game, and it's a shame. So while the environments in this game might be nice looking, if you want to see them, just watch a playthrough on YouTube. If you actually want a walking sim where the exploration feels good, there are way, way better alternatives. That said, the problems in this game are fixable (and probably not that hard to fix). If that happens, I would probably recommend this at sale prices. One other warning: If you are a Dvorak user, do not rebind WASD on to Dvorak mapping. The "o" button in the game is hard bound to release control of the mouse. This means that every time you move backwards, your ability to look or place platforms is lost until you press "o" again. Why such a function exists at all is beyond me.

[b][u]Context[/u][/b] Over the Void is more of an atmospheric art piece than a game. You have several levels to explore, with a few game elements to guide you through them. You also have a somewhat free movement to complement it all. Overall, I don't think it succeeds as a game, but is certainly a very nice experience. If you want something to simply jump into and be immersed in, I think this is very good! You'll navigate a very expressionist world, with huge, abstract architecture, all backed up by a very nice and soothing electronic soundtrack. If this sounds good to you, give it a go! I've taken one hour in my first play-through, and about half of that on my second. It's short, but it's the type of platform that you can easily revisit just to relax and look around, if you're into that. [b][u]Presentation[/u][/b] This is undoubtedly the most important aspect of the game. This is something you play for the audio-visual experience, and not for the challenge or the story. So, how exactly does it compell the player? Well, looking at the screenshots, you can have a very good idea of it. It looks amazing! It uses shape and color in a very unique way, and the scale makes you feel tiny, in a good way. Just moving around feels good, in this game. It's not without its faults, however. I have a relatively small complaint just regarding the visuals: [b][i]Levels feel a bit inconsistent[/i][/b] The first few levels take a very simplistic stance, but one that makes each level feel very unique and gives off a completely different vibe. Later levels, however, feel a bit too [i]full[/i], regarding both the colors, geometry, and particles effects. Those levels still look very good, don't get me wrong, but they're not quite as astonishing and the first ones. Regarding the [b]music[/b] and [b]sound-effects[/b], I have a similar perspective. First off, they fit the overall experience very well, and are certainly pleasant to the ear. I'm not into electronic music, for the most part, but I still enjoyed this a great deal. A very nice detail of how the sound ties with the visuals, is the way some of the objects and particle effects pulse with the music, as well as your jumps emit a fitting sound-effect. Neatly done, so far. I do have a problem with the sound design, however. While it may seem very minor, I think it makes a big impact on the experience, but is also easily fixed. [b][i]Pausing in the musics breaks the flow of the game[/i][/b] Both upon dying, and finishing a level, the music completely stops. In a game about immersing yourself in the levels it creates an unwelcome dissonance, in my opinion. When you die, the music of the level simply restarts. When finishing a level, the music stops, and a new song starts on the next nevel, which loads very fast, without a loading screen (a way of loading that would contribute to the immersion, if not for the music). There are as many games that fall into this as there are those who overcome this issue. FTL, the Bit Trip Series, Thomas Was Alone, and even Super Meat Boy are but examples of how to do it well. Making music flow continuously is fairly easy to do and does wonders to the game, in my opinion! Regardless of the issues that I point out, I think that the game is definitely worth playing for the presentation alone. It's not perfect, but I find it unique, and more games are certainly welcome to improve this style. [b][u]General Structure[/u][/b] Now, I'll look at Over the Void as a game. As I said, the you go through various level, all with the same objective: opening the void to progress to the next level. You do it by pressing buttons throughout the stages. There's no story or objectives for you to complete, necessarily, and each level is self-contained. You also have a counter on the top right of the screen, with x/50. This refers to several Orbs spread around the levels (in this case, not self-contained). They serve absolutely no purpose that I saw, aside from being yet another way of guiding you through the beautiful levels. I've also ended up with 51/50. As far as I can see, the game elements are very artificial, serving as a vehicle for the player to look at the environment. Take that as you will. Another issue (which isn't crucial, but would have benefitted the game if it had been done differently) is the lack of an ending altogether. I realize that there's no build-up to it, per se, but the last level simply leads to the credits screen without any kind of aknowledgement of the player's actions. I would have enjoyed something like what Antichamber did, even. Just a small animated section, some little detail about [i]The Void[/i]. There's nothing. It's fine, but the addition would make it more charming, in my opinion. [b][u]Movement and General Gameplay[/u][/b] Now that you have an idea of what to do, here's how to do it. You can walk, jump (pretty high) and create 2 types of platforms: solid, and bouncy. These platforms disappear as you go away from them, or when you press K to destroy them all. Basically, you simply place these platforms in front, or under you, and you go everywhere you want. The game's gravity isn't too strong, giving the player more liberty. It also features more vertical gameplay than horizontal. About 95% of the time, you'll be moving through your own platforms, rather than using the game's structures. Aside from this, there are 2 hazards, so to speak. One, is air bubbles that push you up, slowly, and the other is downwards wind, to push you down strongly. [b][i]It tries a bit too hard to be considered a game[/i][/b] Personally, these 2 shouldn't be there at all. Yet another "game element" that doesn't seem to have been thought out from the beginning, but as a way of making Over the Void a "game". The biggest problem I have with it, is the way it tries to feel more like a game, but being rather unsuccessful. You die when you go off the limits of the level (sometimes too high, altough it's rare, as you're mostly confined), or going into the void (or water) below you. The air bubbles serve more as an aid, and are there to change up your movement feeling. The wind, is there to kill you, and increase the challenge. However, this challenge comes more as an annoyance, as it doesn't add to the overall experience. You'll simply have to use your platforms to go around it... Meh. [b][i]How the level design could have gone hand in hand with the art...[/i][/b] As I've said, the game elements feel forced. But there was a way of taking the strong point of games AND the twisted architecture and make it into one cohesive experience. This is a 3D platformer. And some parts of the levels work pretty well for you player to walk around and jump from one point to another (although not for anything significant - you can jump around a bit, but it never leads anywhere). But since you always have access to platforms, it's much easier to navigate that way. With more work and thought put into it, you could use the twisting architecture as platforms, and have the player work through it to reach a given button. There, it would be easier to integrate the hazards into the level design, and have it fit well. Some parts the player would float to reach higher places, while trying to avoid the strong winds. That would require a whole redesign of a game, which isn't to be expected, of course. Just brainstorming, here. Constantly looking down is also a downside to it. Exploration and Navigation are almost mutually exclusive. Aside from these, the games works well, for me most part. It has a few technical issues like getting stuck between platforms, some visual clipping, the game not responding after you Alt-Tab, and also a major lag issue in the second level (only). These are all easy to ignore, though, in favor of the beautiful environments! This review may seem too negative, but I enjoyed it a lot! Please, take it as constructive criticism. Try it!

Like Kairo but colorful and without puzzles (per se). Like SickBrick (which was like Portal) but without forced humor and guns. Unlike anything. EDIT: Having made it to the last level, I've decided (yet again) to rearrange my list of favorite games ever, to include Over The Void. You use stationary platforms and trampoline platforms to navigate around entrancing environments. You collect bits of... polygon fire(?) and you activate hidden buttons that open some sort of black-wormhole that takes you to the next area. Over The Void is like Kairo because they are both first-person exploration (walking sim(?)) games; they both strain your brain. Over The Void is like SickBrick (and a number of other games) because there are messages written on the walls/the environments. I made it through three levels and, when I got to the last button, the platform didn't place (or did but I was falling too fast to catch it) and I fell to my death. Reload, find I have to do all of that level again. I had to quit and sit for a minute: The draw of the game is definitely the "universes" you travel through. The only mechanics in the game are jumping and placing platforms. Some of the music is okay, some is barely tolerable (looping often). It's an indie game, so you know there's a (")deeper meaning(") behind it all. It's cheap (I got it while 75% off). I had fun in my short time with it. EDIT: Except for one level, they get progressively more... [b]awe[/b]some, th'only word I can think of - so, too, does the music become more and more suited to the areas. Each level has that bit of floating text (the name of the level) - I might just be too enthralled with it, but at times, with that music, them visuals seem to convey not so much a story but just projection of sentiments (the rainy level and "get high," especially). MrNinjaSquirrel says "It's interactivity that feels forced, shoved in as a means to give you some objective to take on beyond admiring the world around you and perhaps to attempt to hide the complete lack of any context or narrative for what exactly is going on." I say this isn't necessarily wrong. What with there only being the most base of mechanics, dev could have either made the game more complex or just made an animation. For whatever reason, the game is as it is; I can dig it. If Over The Void was simply an animation, I doubt I'd be drawn to it. I can appreciate that the game is just "JumpPlaceJumpPlaceJumpPlaceSTOPAdmire...DropPlaceCollectibleJumpPlaceAdmire...JumpPlaceJumpHit-ButtonJumpPlaceSTOPAdmire..." because the visuals are that entertaining (...y-yeah). There are messages in the architecture and the architecture itself (")tells a story(")(again, like Kairo); what sort of complex story-telling needs to accompany you while you're hopping about these impossible places? I think any sort of story [strike](which has been hinted at in aforementioned placed quips)[/strike] would probably just sour the experience; "Oh, I'm literally jumping from black hole to black hole, collecting bits of my soul (polygon fire) that was dispersed because Sun God (IDK, the logo looks like that) was upset with me? Meh, that feels tacked on. I just enjoyed exploring..." Reverie says "The biggest problem is that the platforms place in front of your view, not under your character. This means that there are all of these gorgeous, expansive environments that you have to travel while staring at your feet. You're also frequently trying to hit buttons you can't see because you have to be looking down to place platforms. The placement issue really wrecks the game, and it's a shame." It seems that once you place a platform, any movement will cause it to disintegrate. You can, however, move the mouse to look around while on a platform. So yeah, this is a valid criticism in that the platform placement could have been designed to work differently. If they were placed directly underneath you, though, then the game would BE nothing but a walking simulator that had you going up and down stairs (as it were). As it is, you're jumping and climbing about an abstract world (lol so more immersive). Perhaps the game should have been more honest about what it is instead of apparently hiding behind the illusion of "legit video game" (i.e. puzzle platformer) because of the (")shoddy(") platform-placement; again, I just find the play-areas alluring, *shrug*. I recommend this game but can see that it's not for everyone. EDIT: That people struggle to give this particular game leniency for sometimes iffy controls (in doing actions) makes me sad... That I enjoy the game as much as I do calls into question how reliable my assessment of it is.

tldr: colourful platformer that gets boring really fast. start was feeling good but the concept became boring very fast. i also felt like the movement was a little bit slow in later stages of the game. additionally you cant change the preset keybindings to better ones than QSDZ for movement. especially the Z movement is kinda annoying for european keyboards. gametime was really low with < 1hour for me. discovered one bug in that gametime. only positive things in my opinion are the colourful design of the levels and the music (both are my taste and it can differ for you)

A fairly short platformer with portal-esque controls, great artistic design, and a killer soundtrack. Given that it's developed in unity it does have some glitches/problems but that is to be expected other than that it's great, so check this game out if you get the chance!

A neat little game about hopping around a void filled with abstract geometry, listening to some trippy music, otherwise known as "Saturday night in the 80s". Keys are bound for AZERTY keyboard layouts by default. For QWERTY users, you can change ZQSD to WASD in the launcher, but not the game itself. This guarantees that most people will have to relaunch the game immediately after starting it for the first time. Sorry France, nobody else uses AZERTY. The mechanics are a little poorly explained, but hop around a bit and you'll figure it out. Left click to create a floating green platform to stand on (boring!) or right click to create a floating blue bounce pad and fly over the titular void (weeeeeeeeee). Platforms vanish a few seconds after being created if you're not standing on them, keeping the void uncluttered but allowing you to stand still when you want to. But why would you want to? Given how much fun bouncing is compared to standing still, I switched those controls around too, and I recommend it. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find glowy red things. Turn the glowy red circles green by rubbing up on them, and pick up the glowy red sprite clouds as some kind of completion collectible. Turn all the buttons green in a given area to open the gate to the next one. Simple, but kinda fun in a relaxing way. Overall, a nice little exploration/platformer game.

A majestic game, where a simple gameplay allows you to challenge gravity while wandering in a cosmic universe. The music is amazing, environments stunning, spending a few minutes/hours in the game is the best way to relax and empty your head. Congratulations Marie!

This game gave me what I was looking for, gameplay and objective are quite simple to understand, so I felt free to explore astonishing environments while playing. Moreover Music and graphics goes very well together, I had a very pleasant time.

More of a proof of concept than a game, this is a bare bones 3d platformer with a simple twist: you can create temporary platforms underneath you to stop you from falling. Left click drops a green platform and right click drops a blue platform. The green platform is a stepping stone. The blue platform is a springboard that launches you into the air. The levels are small but have a great deal of verticality to them. There are collectables to pick up along the way but the goal is to find and press a sequence of red buttons which will open a gateway to the next level. It plays and feels a bit like Portal sans portal gun mechanics. You can finish Over the Void in well under an hour, with most of that time spent looking down as you tend to fixate on the platforms you create rather than the brilliantly bizaare and colourful environments. You will regularly bump your head on ceilings and floating objects that you never see until they are below you. The game experience generally does not feel structured. The ability to launch yourself into the air with the click of a mouse button precludes the possibility of having platforming puzzles. You never wonder how you can climb your way through a level and your platforming ability is never tested because you can prevent a fall at any time. Whereas Portal felt like a 3d puzzle game, this does not. I adored the aesthetic and the music, despite the platforming mechanics affording you little time and space to appreciate your surroundings. Over the Void works well as a 10 minute distraction every now and then but don't expect anything as substantial as a game or you will be disappointed.